Yeats Songs

David Conte has set these three William Butler Yeats texts in a short song cycle for high voice and string quartet or piano. The first and last songs (The Sorrow of Love; When You Are Old) are thematically related, both in terms of subject matter and musical treatment. Both deal with unrequited love with feelings of nostalgia and regret. At times, the long held chords present the melody in a recitative style, while running eighths accompany the climax of the text. The middle song, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, represents Yeats' description of utopia with excitement and joy.